@mudlark thank you for your time! I appreciate you checking the internet for this information. I concluded, based on your determination, that the main issue is humidity. Yesterday: 100%. My joints ache like the proverbial.

Also, Thane, with a particular problem that affects his hip, had nagging pain during training put down to thick, sticky air, devoid of breeze – the consequence of heavy weather warnings two hundred kilometres north. Today, at LAST, it’s raining. The temperature is back to 24 when the nights and days have had the same temperature.

I pulled out an old lavender yesterday. Scraggy and grey-ish, it finished blossoming with a dull hue. The neighbour’s wild peach tree and other assorted water-guzzlers cause this smaller area to suffer. Also, as it’s more on her side of the area, I don’t think about it too often -which I suspect annoys the ‘Leisured Chatty Cathies of Coorparoo’ who stroll daintily up the road for their $6 coffees, pronouncing on the state of my garden and the neighbour’s respectively: “oooh, yezzzz, THIS garden looks quite good but must take aaages to work on, I mean we’d ruin our nails; and the other lady with ALL those plants and leaf litter? It devastates our precious neighbourhood, don’t you know? But that lady’s from South Africa, so what would you expect?”

Initially from Sydney, and determined to grow roses, the neighbour was undeterred by my laughing bark (pun intended, of course) and for 12 months they were quite a success. After that, mould grew, leaves fell off and they died, spectacularly. I was vaguely…..satisfied (she was always a tad nasty, leaving cat faeces in our garden, which with CCTV, I can now prove! Being nutty some years ago I would hide behind the fence, waiting to spring like a demon in the night, but no matter HOW early I was, she was even earlier, more astute, always cunning).

But the Idiot Gardner I employed for several years also planted a species of bramble rose -right next to the road (!). After 6 months they too died. This was costly for him as he had a ‘plan’ of replacing anyone’s plants that died if he was responsible for the initial plan. When I pointed out the inevitable consequences of this much vaunted opinion, he was cross-eyed with fear. I suspected then what I now know: he was neither businessman nor horticulturist.

In the position you wrote of in the past week (with diagrams of double digging) concerning ‘yellowing lavender,’ it seemed very dry. Whilst it could be the clay soil, humidity, mixed with dryness sounds like a diagnosis. It’s contradictory I know, as humidity indicates overall ‘wetness’ but we often have very high humidity, threatening rain, with only the tiniest of water droplets as lawns in the neighbourhood become dusty and brittle.

I should invest in a pH reader? I don’t think anyone I know even has one. But otherwise I’m continuing to guess; wasting time – yours too: and I apologise for monopolising it – – almost like a troll on a Guardian gardening site 😈

The Camelia is doing extremely well and the lilly-pillies in front of it are glossy-leaved, marching along nicely for such a slow growing tree. Everything there is content. The lavender, in that position, is an unusual variety, with blossoms like 2 butterfly wings in soft pink. The plant itself is extremely wide at 2 metres, presenting a splendid ‘bushy’ shape. I can’t recall its origin. Like all lavenders, if they’ve been blossoming for five years in Brisbane, I should be prepared for their inevitable depression and death.

On that morose note, I shall stare out the window willing it to rain again 🙂

Puro (how are those Christmas cards coming along? – – seriously, thank you for your enormous help. Bill us accordingly. Drinks and kebabs are on me and Thane: naturally, whatever needs doing is supervised by me – -and Thane follows instructions, precisely, understanding that this house, small as it is, may be his one day).

It was just a first draft so is a bit over-written. When I read it now I groan at some of the dialogue and would probably cut quite a bit of it – but it’s still not bad (if I do say so myself).

As I said before – trigger warnings. It’s a domestic drama but also, kind of, a metaphor about the early Irish ‘troubles’. It’s a complex story and the leading man is abusive to his wife and there are also threats of child abuse.

The lavender with the two petals like butterfly wings (I think of them as rabbit ears) is French Lavender (lavandula stoechas). In our climate it is slightly more tender than other types, though it will survive frosts if there is sharp drainage and no chance of waterlogging.

100% humidity without rain sounds appalling

As for the Christmas preparations, the letters and cards to overseas friends have been posted but yesterday was otherwise unproductive in that respect. There used to be a post office about ten minutes walk from here, but that closed years ago and I had to go into the city to get the necessary stamps for overseas mail, only to find that I had just missed the one and only postal collection of the day and the next will be Monday morning. Grrr. It will be a miracle if any of them arrive before the 25th. My temper was not improved by the weather. The temperature was a degree or two above freezing but the wind chill factor was ferocious. Since I was in the city I decided nevertheless to stay a while and improve the hour by doing some shopping for items I will need during the next week, but by the time I returned home my back was complaining loudly and insistently and I had to take a couple of co-dydramol tablets and rest. Despite good intentions I didn’t return to the letter/card writing in the evening so there is still at least one more letter to write and a long list of cards to get through. Since I generally include a note with each card that will probably take the rest of today and possibly tomorrow morning, but I refuse to resort to the ’round robin’ type of Christmas letter. Time I got down to it.

As one who loved the TV series “Deadwood” (at some point I might ramble on about how the show was a brilliant allegory for the rise of civil society from a Hobbesian universe that was “nasty, brutal and short”) the following article is a Christmas present come early:

@winston@blenkinsopthebrave then there’s Polar Express. In its first release to DVD Thane watched it upwards of four times a day over several weeks and into the next Christmas. 😈

I’m now making him sit through it again. I like some of the associated attitudes of kindness, mystery and adventure, thoughtfulness etc. It’s been at least 11 years since I’ve plonked down on the sofa to watch it, with a glass of vino (or plonked with plonk). Most reviews seem to be positive but 56% RT isn’t a good sign. At that time there were no ‘metacritic’ analyses so it was good to see something independent of professional or amateur reviewers.

Winston: Just saw a trailer for Scrooged -never even heard of it before! Has Karen Allen AND it’s also a Richard Donner film -Lethal Weapon(s) and The Goonies (loved that one).

But Thane is rootin’ through Buffy and Angel. He was asking if there were Christmas episodes for Angel: I’ve seen all Angel eps once only so I can’t recall. On the other hand we’ve seen the Buffy Halloween and Christmas eps a few times now. 🙂

Pur-ox (I like the ‘ox’ imagery -what with my ahem, cough ‘slowness’ with the tedious trolls. I can imagine one or two Forum members doing a facepalm saying “How can she be SO stupid?” But I shall defend all stupid people: “I shall speak for all mediocrities! I am their champion. I am their patron saint. Mediocrities everywhere, I absolve you (Salieri).”

I thought you might like this, in a metaphorical kinda way. You may not know, but John Cena is a famous wrestling star in America, and has now branched out in to acting – he was very funny in “Trainwreck” and is about to appear in “Bumblebee”, the new Transformers movie.

He’s had a crew-cut his whole career, but now he’s grown his hair a bit. And people are telling him he’s ruined their childhood! Made me laugh a lot. Is every fandom the same?

@blenkinsopthebrave Not really a Christmas Movie person but we did a TV Christmas special podcast and I did some research on TV Christmas specials. The list was very very long. We featured an early Avengers episode which was interesting as none of the younger people in the group had seen any Avengers at all, or any black and white tv. We will be watching some of the early Dr Who next year

Thus far my Christmas viewing mostly consists of Dr Who Christmas specials, Hogfather, and usually a bit of Dickens. This year I re-watched The Signalman which I first watched when I was a teenager.

We are planning to discuss an episode of Buffy for our next podcast and I was hoping to get some advice on which would be a good episode to discuss.

A Christmas Carol (various versions on rotation but more often than not the Muppets win out)
In The Bleak Midwinter (of A Midwinter’s Tale if you’re American. Much overlooked and a great little film)
Home Alone
Trading Places
Gremlins

Homicide: Life on the Streets ‘All Through the House’
Buffy ‘Amends’
Bones ‘The Santa in the Slush’

And, of course, there’s the now sadly defunct Who Xmas specials. Personally, I find the Capaldi era surprisingly strong in this department as I wouldn’t have expected it of his Doctor and my go-to choice is always ‘Last Christmas’

I resist Christmas for as long as possible. The point I give in is when I put Its A Wonderful Life on the DVD player, and settle down to have a long weep. I’ve blogged here and on my own blog site about this film, and why it is both heartwarming and devastating. Not sure when I’ll watch it this year – either tomorrow pm or Xmas Eve once we’ve visited mother-in-law and I’ve made the stuffing for the Xmas dinner… Once I ‘ve watched it, it’s proper Christmas.

Ok, The Christmas TV setting is being arranged, and yes, there is “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and, as indicated earlier, “Die Hard”.

But the truth is that the the main events are the two all-time Christmas favourites in the Blenkinsop household. (I confess that we have been watching these two movies each Christmas for years.) First, “The Miracle at Morgan’s Creek”

And second (but really first, if you understand me), “The Man Who Came to Dinner”

This year’s been pretty rough in my household. There have been death threats, serious surgery, close friends dying and nearly dying. Other close friends lost. And three of our dogs died, one of them yesterday. So mostly I’m just settling down and waiting for this bloody abomination of a year to end.

There have been good things, I made a new friend (and I’m forty without an external workplace). And things to look forward to, applying for an MA next year. I’m looking forward to the New Year’s Day Doctor Who episode and it just, generally, not being 2018 anymore.

Happy New Year to all of my fellow Whovians all over the world! I have 2 hours to try to stay awake so I can say I saw the new year come in. ( too old and wise to party) I truly hope you all have a good year ahead and warm hugs to those who suffered loss this year. Lets all grab a hold 0f 2019 and make it do what its told.

I love that! Using those memory or vision patches the Doctor uses would help. I think in Capaldi’s first season 1 of PC and Clara where she wants the Doctor to find heaven and get Danny back (naturally, the Doctor, practised at Aikido, and fully aware Clara has taken, or believes she’s taken, all the Tardis keys to the only place they’ll actually melt.

I know your brand of “it’s cold, really cold” is quite different from our type of Winter-ish cold: “Oh, gee it’s 22 degrees today and a minimum of seven and I need my scarf, coat and gloves.” Right now, I’d be happy with some middling Canada-cold (say, Autumn or beginning of Spring-cold).

Five years ago in Prague at the end of February, we were heading out of the hotel and I was wearing my all-purpose light wool suit. In certain chain stores @janetteb and @blenkinsopthebrave would know (Myer, David Jones) you can purchase a petite brand for us ‘short’ people, and, as it’s Brisbane, the suits don’t need a blouse underneath and are very light.

Foolish and a tad jet lagged, I had a pair of slip on open toed shoes, no panty-hose, scarf etc…. Sensibly, outside the tube station, there were various digits demonstrating the potential for rain and the current temperature of: “one degree C.”

The wind made it seem -30 (for a Brisbaner) so I had to skip back to hotel and re-dress -including high, warm boots -for which I was grateful, for more than one reason…

In visiting the famous sites, yet again, I was plagued by wind and rain, but also people coughing violently over us, sneezing, spitting up and snotting up on sidewalks. Oh I was proud of those people: my people – OK, distant ancestors, my former (sort-of) homeland demonstrating to good Czech, Slovak folk and tourists just how elegant and properly courteous they all are..

Happy New Year all. I hope that 2019 is a good year for all and a better year for this poor, beleaguered world of ours.

And we have a Dr Who special to look forward to.

@thane16 We went to Sweden in February, from a heatwave in S.A. so from 40c + to -17c and heavy snowfall. Australian winter clothing just isn’t designed for that. Luckily we were staying in an apartment above a shopping centre for the first week so we were able to quickly kit ourselves out without loosing any toes or fingers.

I would love to return to Prague one day. We were only there for one day, the last day of the U.S.S.R. actually, and had our baggage stolen from the station but I still loved the city.

@miapatrick. Good luck with the M.A. I am envious. I would like to go back and do Masters but am waiting till the youngest finishes yr 12. I am also applying for some jobs, one which I have my heart set on is for a local history, research assistant.

@pedant awesomely interesting. For some reason I always listen and watch these things the 2nd time around for the automatic subtitling. 🙂

Somewhere a “japan” and a “carol” featured as did “Cervantes and decibel” -the last was supposed to be DESMOND.

I find the “fervour” attached to these very industrious groups sometimes as exhausting as the condition itself. Certain groups -or individuals – have agendas an eon long.

I’m so glad your sugar readings showed massive improvement. As for the water closet situation (Thane is learning new words no matter how outdated, as occasional rest-rooms in QLD still show ‘WCs’ —>) that’s another matter.

As you say, “twitchy.” I’d add ‘better the wine cork rather than water-tap pressure on maximum…” 🙁

Doctors love scatological references and charades: “the adult diapers are on sale at the mo, grab yourself a pair” as if you’re considering the purchase of opal, platinum cufflinks.

Happy New Year everybody. May it bring personal joys and rewards to leaven any cares, worries and disappointments delivered by the outer world.

I didn’t feel up to seeing the New Year in, having brought home an unwanted Christmas present in the form of a respiratory infection. It’s a good excuse, though, to spend today slopping round in my dressing gown, cosseting myself and annoying the neighbours with my graveyard cough 😈

@pedant – According to the subtitles on your video “I had my mates cut in half”. I’m sure we’ve all told our friends to piss off when they’re being annoying but having them dismembered might be a tad drastic 😆

Brief appearance to wish everyone a very happy New Year! Hoping for better things in 2019 (not for me personally, I’m good, more for the world generally). I’ll be back tomorrow after I’ve seen the New Year special. Meanwhile, love to you all!

Nothing to do with anything, but this twitter thread is the best thing you are likely to see any time soon. Since, for some reason, tweets won’t embed for me, you will have to trust me and click the link (if you have a moment @craig, could you fix?).

I see I’ve been missing some fun tonight! (My main computer’s very sick (but out of intensive care and hopefully on the mend now). I think my overexcitement at trying to download ALL the AG series on iplayer may have finally done for the poor wee thing!)

@pedant Thanks so much for the MERL twitter thread. So so funny 😀 (Hope you don’t mind, I stole it and shared it elsewhere). Thanks also for your youtube posts, loving them too. Glad to hear you’re keeping the b*gger in check (DESMOND, LOL). And hopefully it will persuade youtube that I’m REALLY not interested in the rash of extremely trollsome Dr Who videos it keeps trying to serve me up. Algorithms, eh?!

Just reading a new book on the history of citizenship and African Americans in the 19th century (as one does) that arrived in the mail today. The author is Martha Jones (no, I know what you are thinking because it occurred to me as well). So I looked her up on google, and when I found her website, I thought it was great that she had thought about it as well, as you will discover when you get to the end of her web page:

@blenkinsopthebrave being from Bris, you’ve done this trek many-a-time so we decided to do something unprecedented! Take a holiday which involved considerable driving and renting a lovely home -self catered – in Springbrook. On the first evening after a massive fry up – – @pedant ignore this: think, instead, of mushrooms -ah, nope, hang on, not them because mushrooms eat people -fresh green vegetables and unsugared lime juice – – Thane and I walked around part of the Springbrook National Park.

Back at the house in the gloaming we saw a huge echidna -as the mist rolled in quickly we headed indoors & listened to several kookaburras. They had tiny, blue tipped wings? Also, a 2 metre lizard & some rosellas I’d not seen in years: feathers in vivid magenta, amethyst, bright emerald, neon orange and gold.

Then, the scrub turkeys plonked along the steel balcony using their feet-boots to knock away the parrots so the turkeys, rightful heirs of the Gallifreyan High Council, could dine immediately.

The next day, & this is the alarming bit: yes, it was 6 degrees cooler and very little sun pierced the canopy shrouded with epiphytes and wallaby monkeys but I walked for 12 kms that day from about 11.30 am till 8 pm -with occasional down time (code for gasping, sweating profusely & periodically checking for leeches & blood sucking arachnids). At the base of the hike you walk through caves with millions of opalescent glow worms, pass under several rhyolite caves from which icy, crashing waterfalls descend into the reward: a huge lagoon at the bottom.

Later, Thane was keen to hop off bridge with relatively shallow, sedate waterfalls; perhaps 30 or so in the vicinity & with water so fresh it was delicious. Phone-camera in hand I fussily directed Thane to “stand here & move there, look attentive” but without any warning, I flopped down 5 metres of a smaller waterfall into another cavernous deep lagoon. And the phone was undamaged! A miracle! Me? Dorkiness & a few scratches.

@thane16 Wow! That sounds like quite an enchanting holiday destination with exotic birds and other animals and beautiful blue pools of water. I am happy you and Thane had a good time and that you and your phone escaped too much harm. The only things I wouldn’t like are the leeches and spiders. I love going on long hikes exploring and I have at least one spectacular or just plain funny fall or accident on every holiday but rarely hurt myself too bad. We have a bit in common.

@thane16 It sounds and looks beautiful, so lush it is hard to believe that you are talking about the same country as the bleached out wheat fields that stretch out around this town. Even the Barossa is looking rather worse for wear now, the squares of irrigated vineyards contrasting unfavourably with the dead grass and red brown soil that surround them. My poor garden is looking particularly tragic, I can hardly bear to look out the window to see my poor plants drooping under the remorseless sun. And I see our P.M is going to focus upon the fate of native species. Wonder how is intends to do that without acknowledging that Global Warming is a thing. Maybe he intends to get his pals in the coal industry to donate to his local zoo.

Oh dear. Not good is it? think of Malcolm Fraser & how he decried the behaviour and polices of our more recent Libs/Nat Parties and the “shell that is left of once good & balanced opposition” Even Gough Whitlam for many a decade despising Fraser grudgingly respected this new ‘statesman.’ Both shared an admiration for the stunningly clever, counter-intuitive H.V Evatt -his Wiki article has some notable mistakes, though. I never warmed to PM Turnbull but I’m embarrassed when I watch the economic shenanigans of Scott Morrison.

In SA, decades ago, gardens patiently waited for April rains. Schools used bore water for ovals but attempting to water the Barossa now -having it shipped in -is plain awful. The farming situation worries me horribly. I may’ve mentioned that dad regularly took me to his friend’s farm: two rooms with a dirt floor, swept daily, immaculately ironed, faded kitchen curtains where rain leaked from the roof every winter. During the garlic and ginger harvest the children stayed home & worked. There was little money in such backbreaking work.

At 13, I was shocked. These were lovely Czechs who hadn’t any good fortune for many years. My parents crossed the oceans with them in ’50 but maintained the connection. After he died, I found Dad had quietly given them money & toys for Christmas. The small things but it isn’t always enough.

My garden always looks spindly til March. Yesterday I gave in and pruned 80% of everything to stave off dehydration. A purge is always good!

I was watching Twitter on my own. I thought I was watching the new “type” of Brexit deal of your PM? It was the vote for the Irish Backstop which would be left in the hands of the UK rather than the EU? (I feel bad I don’t know this part better!).

I’m now listening to people talking about the possible vote against your PMs plan- which, I heard on TV today already that it was an “outrageous deal with a huge majority vote against her policy.” This from Channel 7 and 9 where they show the Australian Open which we watch this time every year. And that’s why I was following it.

Except we are having arguments with Dad’s rellies in parts of London who voted Brexit and it made me furious. It’s hard for me to speak to them & nothing I say will change their mind because “you’re 17, what do you know about how the immigrants are flooding what England once was! We’ll have a country with black faces, terrorists planning to blow us up and councils saying “sure put up that synagogue or mosque but not a Christian church.” ” What can you do? Family eh. Can’t kill ’em & can’t love ’em.

Also, I think Andy Murray retired from tennis yesterday? Maybe not? To all Scots @soundcloud and @jimthefish sad day for tennis but he had a terrific innings and yesterday two sets down he won the next two sets even though his hip injury -an avulsion bruise/fracture was obvious through the whole match. Thank you for reading.

It’s hard to know what will happen now. There ought to be a general election. Ideally, what with the UK being a Parliamentary Democracy, and Leave campaigning on the basis of Parliament’s sovereignty, the M.P.s and rival candidates ought to consult their constituencies, and decide to run on a leave/stay/if they must second referendum (if we’re stuck with pretending to be a referenda democracy) and then the new house could vote on that.

What I think will happen is a vote of no confidence on the Tory party, which they will probably win, maybe replace May and an attempt at renegotiation. Which would probably lead, eventually, to a no deal exit anyway. Or the above.

I’m not very keen on the Government being propped up by the DUP, mostly because they have different laws, very different laws, not like the Devolution powers of Wales and Scotland, but things actually illegal or just not legal which are part of our law. But NI is, arguably, going to be even more affected by us leaving Europe than the mainland, and is at risk of Civil war.

I feel like I’m living in a chapter of a history book. I know we all, always are in the end. But I’ve never got such a strong sensation of school children writing an essay about my life before.